Neil Phillips, the first Chief Diversity Officer for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, is an unapologetic optimist. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Phillips was raised in the Washington DC area and went on to study English and American Literature at Harvard University. Phillips is an Aspen Institute Education Entrepreneurship Fellow, a member of the inaugural Echoing Green/Open Society Foundation Black Male Achievement Fellowship, and serves on the boards of CBAM Partners, Checkers & Rally’s, and The Nantucket Project, along with other distinguished positions. I talked recently over the phone to Phillips, who lives in Sarasota, Florida with his wife and two teenage sons, about his life, his goals and his new role.

 

What was your impression of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association before you joined it? What have you learned about it since?

I knew very little about it. I had been sort of a typical consumer of film and television my whole life, and as a consumer, I was aware of the Golden Globe Awards and that there was this agency behind it but didn’t know much beyond that. I was certainly acquainted with some of the headlines around the HFPA’s challenges within the past year and learned a little bit more about them from those, but without any kind of personal connection to the organization, it wasn’t much more than that. It wasn’t until just in the months prior to coming on that I became more familiar with things. I had done some work with Todd [Boehly, the interim CEO of the HFPA] and his company, Eldridge, and through his affiliation with HFPA, I started to get to know more about the organization. And my gosh, here I am.

 

So, you had a relationship with Todd prior to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association?

Yes. I’ve been doing some work with Eldridge over the past year around its DEI work, albeit framed differently. I spent time with his team and with some of his leaders and helped them identify their DEI interests and pursue them. When Todd became the interim CEO of the HFPA, he reached out to me, told me he was taking this role on, and asked if I was interested in helping. At that point, knowing Todd and having a ton of faith in Todd and his vision, and then learning more about the organization and the work that they had been doing, I thought, “OK, I can sink my teeth into this here.”

 

From your reading of the headlines, was there something from the outside that you had particularly wanted to see changed in the organization before you joined?

I have a really broad view and aspiration for where diversity, equity, and inclusion can lead us as a society, as a nation, as organizations. And I thought that the history and composition of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association lent itself to some real potential around what the HFPA could become in their transformational efforts as a result of the challenges.  

 

Has that impression changed now that you’re a part of the organization?

It’s only been affirmed and elevated, that I believe in the potential for that. I’m also aware of the challenges, the obstacles that need to be overcome in order to get to that place. But to me, that’s a healthy aspiration for the organization, and certainly for me in the role that I’m playing within it.

 

And a realistic one. You’ve been with the organization for less than six months now.

Yes, I’m just starting month four.

 

I know it’s been a short amount of time, but can you speak to what you have been able to accomplish so far?

Yes, and I will categorize it in areas. One is just getting to know the path that the HFPA has been on to reform and transform as a result of the controversy, understanding the comprehensive nature of the steps that have been and continue to be taken to really become a different organization around DEI commitments. I’ve also been able to establish relationships with past and current philanthropic partners that have helped me to acquaint myself with that landscape, that part of the HFPA, past, and present – and certainly future in the philanthropic partnership side. I have been on a quest to spend as much time individually with as many members as I can. And that quest is ongoing. I am in the process of delivering some DEI “training sessions” with the team. I look at them a little bit differently than training, but that’s the neat and quick and easy way to frame that. Finally, as I’ve been getting acquainted with past and current, I am getting some perspectives around what the future could look like. And so that’s taking shape, some of that conceptualizing.

 

Could you give us a broad picture of what your main goals for the organization are?

The main goal is that DEI interests get clearly established and that they are incorporated into every facet of the organization’s functioning so that DEI interests and pursuits are always being acknowledged and represented in every aspect of the organization. That’s a priority.

 

In other words, you are talking about the integration of these ideals as opposed to viewing them as an afterthought. It’s something that starts at conception.

That’s right.

 

What did you think of this year’s Golden Globe Awards?

Well, I thought that it was important that they happened. I think, given all of the challenges in recent months, there was so much for the organization to attend to, and I thought it was important that it would also do what it has been doing for the previous 78 years, which is present awards and recognize excellent artistry in film and television. And I also thought it was really wise to have it happen in a different way, that working to try to present the Golden Globes as the world has come to know the Golden Globes would not have been wise. I thought that the approach to really focus the attention on highlighting the incredible partners with whom the HFPA works, and whom it has had the privilege of supporting over decades, was really well done. I thought it was really inspiring, and it was certainly informative. So, I was pleased by it.

I personally think it’s weird to talk about the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in a vacuum. We’re part of the Hollywood community.

Isn’t it amazing?

 

And I was just wondering, with that in mind, what changes would you like to see happen in the greater Hollywood community when it comes to diversity and inclusion?

Well, I think, first of all, collaboration. I think that there are so many wonderful affinity groups that represent a particular community, whether it be of race or gender or ethnicity or sexual preference, or some socioeconomic level – and that is necessary, to have these groups be specific affinity groups. There’s a next step in our DEI evolution, as a country and as a world, for each of us in our particular affinity group, regardless of how we identify, that those groups find ways to come together to advance a collective cause. That’s what I mean by collaboration. In Los Angeles, there are so many organizations doing great work as it relates to the industry and even beyond, and when we can find ways for those organizations to actually work together to advance common interests, I think there’s going to be some real significant progress. Another thing I would like to see is an allowance for transformation. I think it’s an important thing for organizations and individuals who misstep, who transgress, as it relates to the DEI landscape, for those individuals and organizations to be called out for that. And I think it’s also important that when they as individuals or organizations demonstrate a commitment to transforming, to doing right, that there be room for that as well. I think that’s a necessary part of our DEI evolution as well.

 

Yeah, absolutely. I don’t think there’s enough talk about that aspect of it.

I agree.

 

And I feel like a lot of organizations that are similar to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association are also facing challenges, not even necessarily related to diversity and inclusion as much as to the COVID pandemic and how to present award shows in this climate. Would you like to see more collaboration with more similar organizations? Like maybe press conferences held together, with more collaboration than we’ve seen in the past. Do you see that as a way forward?

Yes, I absolutely do. And the pandemic is doing in Hollywood what it has done across the world, which is cause people to look at things differently. We were all sort of marching to habits and routines and schedules and a certain rhythm of how things functioned. And then the pandemic came and just knocked us all off of our feet, as it relates to what we had been accustomed to thinking as givens in terms of how things happened. And so, for the last two years, we’ve all, in our own ways, individually and collectively – and organizations have been doing the same – sort of saying, “OK, wait a second now. What now? This is a new path, and how do we adjust to it?” And so, I think the organizations and the industries who think about doing things differently and are thinking about collaboration where they may not have before, are very well served. No question. And I understand the competitive nature of it all, I understand that this is business and that there’s territorialism and that there’s market share, and that there’s all these things, but sometimes you must look collectively at what’s best for the industry. And there’s no question that I think if people are asking that question authentically, then more collaboration in some different ways, that’ll be a clear response.

And not every organization – or any other organization, in fact – has had the sort of reckoning that the HFPA has. Do you see it as an opportunity to lead the way in Hollywood when it comes to moving in the right direction?

I do see it as an opportunity to lead the way. There’s no question about that. But in situations like this, that is not something that you take it upon yourself to declare. As the organization who has sort of been under the spotlight and the scrutiny and receiving the criticism and the antagonism and all of those things, the focus needs to be on doing the work. Do the work. And then as you do the work and you start to benefit from the fruits of that labor, your organization evolves and transforms and increases its capacity, and then that has an impact on the people with whom you work, and the organizations with whom you work, and what you celebrate and the philanthropic partners; as that fruit is born, then the organic sort of evolution of things is that you find yourself in a position where your path has been instructive to others. So, you do that, and you do that in a transparent way. You do that in a humble way, and you do that in a committed way. And then you find yourself in a position where, again, your journey can be helpful to others. To me, that’s the approach, rather than declaring yourselves as some kind of a leader in this way. I just think it happens in a more organic way, but I do believe it happens.

 

Listening to your responses, I can tell you’re clearly passionate about this. I’m wondering if you could maybe tell us what in your life led you on this path? Was there a particular experience? What informed who you are now?

Wow, that’s a great question. Sometimes it’s a question I ask myself. I will say that I have been, I consider myself to be, blessed by unshakable conviction about the inherent human value of every one of us. I am an equal human value fanatic. So, I believe that elevating people, seeing people who aren’t often seen, hearing people who aren’t often heard, providing opportunities for folks who are underrepresented so that they can demonstrate their brilliance, that is at the heart of my life view. There are too many of us and among us who don’t get opportunities that their inherent goodness should warrant. And so, I have become a champion for creating opportunities for them to be seen and be elevated.

 

OK. Last and most serious question. What are you most looking forward to in the world of television and cinema this year?

Yeah. Wow. If I could get 10 more films that made me feel the way Swan Song did, I’d be really happy about that. I love not knowing anything about a film or a television show, so kind of going in blind, and then being taken on a journey that I wouldn’t have taken myself on. Had I known the content, the subject matter, the buzzwords about what it’s about, I would’ve kind of shied away. You know, A.I. and cloning, I would’ve stayed away from it. And I would’ve missed the brilliance of all that went beyond those buzzwords and catchphrases to describe that movie. So, I love being transported to a place I wouldn’t have taken myself and feeling incredibly fulfilled and nourished by the experience.